Shell, pharmacy tech question

What does it take to become a pharmacy tech?

I'm interested in changing careers (and yes, starting at the bottom again) and I've always thought that would be an interesting job.

It's a challenging but yet fun job! I'm not sure what each states laws are for the Tech's but I know that in most states you do not have to have a college degree in this. If you do get a degree and your Tech license, you're pay will be much better and some Retail Drug chains like Walgreens prefer it. WalMart only requires that you have a High School diploma or a GED, no crimnal record and have a good personality with customers. When I started in the Pharmacy, I didn't even know what a Co-Pay was for insurance! With WalMart (since you don't need a Pharmacy degree) the require you to take tests and computer based learning programs that help you with your training. Mostly it all comes down to on hand experiences.

For what I did everyday, here's a little list of them all:
Answer the phone
Type in the actual Prescriptions (must learn the code that doctor's write in) (the Pharmacist ALWAYS checks our work!)
Count the drugs
Inventory all the drugs
Medicaid and Medicare insurance claims
Calling insurance companies with claim problems
Ringing out prescriptions
Helping with the Over the Counter Drugs
Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork!
Customer Service
Calling Dr's office for refills
Learning and using the general Pharmacy Laws
Pulling outdated drugs and returning them to the Warehouse
and lots of trival things and common sense things.

Working in a Retail Pharmacy is a lot different than working in a Hospital Pharmacy. At most Hospitals, the Tech's have to do a lot of IV drugs and compounding drugs (combining several different drugs together into one drug).

It all sounds simple and it really is, but it can get stressful at times. Since I was the Head Tech of my Pharmacy, I had a lot more responiblity than the others and I was the highest level of a Tech without having an actual license.

I think it's great that you're interested in this! A lot of people are intimidated by all the drugs, but that was my favorite part! Especially mastering how to pronounce those really long and hard words!